Luta I really like reading about Eastern concepts and mythology, and there are alternate legal sources for Chinese webnovels, but the prices Webnovel.com (aka Qidian) is demanding are ridiculous. They try and disguise it by making the purchase through SS, but it is still an obvious rip-off.

Traditional Western printed novels are very different format to webnovels and I have a hard time comparing them. Because webnovels are typically written as the author goes where as printed novels have to go through a lengthier processes to get published. Printed novels usually have higher quality as a result.

    I agree with Garlic_Sauce statements, and here is my take on this.

    I consider myself a power webnovel reader as I keep on average 20 novels in the library and read over 20 chapters daily depending on the novel, update frequency and my level of interest. If its high, I am likely to go much more once available. Now, I have reached a point whereby I am more or less forced to pay premium which I hate because i will not be able to enjoy the books that I like a lot. Now I do understand trying to make a living, having expenses etc. but I feel this is BEYOND HIGHWAY ROBBERY especially for those power readers. This is very applicable to novels with over 100 chapters and you are charging 3-11 SS per chapter - that's not fair. This is also related to novels that have on average over 1m readers daily. It's like Qidan gives you a lollipop to taste and once you lick it they yank it out of your mouth hard, hence you lose your teeth & then some. That's just nasty on a whole, when Qidan do this they are likely lose their key customers and turn off potential new customers. I try to do the calculation for a SS 2500+(750 bonus chapters) - USD 50, as the 50 SS won't cut it. In my country, should I proceed with this I would be paying an minimum cost of JAM$7,000 and this is not a monthly fee, nor its cheap because that can take care of some key expenses. Let's say I am a fan of one of the novels with over 1,000 chapters paying an minimum cost of 4 SS per chapter it goes very fast (4000 SS) and its just one novel which is not yet complete. What about other similar stories, this gets expensive very fast, before you even complete 10 chapters. What you are more or less doing is encouraging the power reader to spend is over $100 US for incomplete BOOK/S. This is not feasible for the customer wherever they are and I Repeat pretty costly.

    Should Qidan insists on charging a fee for reading books then I think Qidan needs to provide an SS monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual flat rate which would be applied for all novels. Once that is paid, the power user should have access to those novel, chapters etc. regardless, as that fee is already covered. That way there is a balance and the price must be reasonable, I doubt if Qidan will lose at all if they do this. Do not turn off the customer, nor make them poorer than they already are.

    Also, I am aware that at times you can lose your SS from lack of use. What happens then, lets say I decided to give myself a break from coming here for awhile eg. 1 - 2 months, reason I have to prep for exams. What happens especially when its valid for 90 days only? A part from the benefit of reading a chapter, what else can the SS cover for the reader?

    Qidan needs to look at the big picture medium - long term especially if they wish to retain their power readers and obtain new customers. Come up with a solution that is more customer friendly than rip off friendly.

    Long post that needed to be said. Have a good weekend.

      phoenix_8888 yep, when you are talking about spending $80 or more on a book series, you would expect the books to be next level good. I love webnovels. They are a quick and easy read that is good for relaxing and stress relief, but they are not on the whole what I would call "next level good."

      On top of that the SS business model is a blatant ripoff, meant to trick you into spending more money than you realise. You don't know when you are buying SS how much you are gonna need to unlock the whole book so you won't be spending your money efficiently. You also probably won't buy all at once because most people follow the webnovels as they are being published. So by the time you are done you don't even realise how much money you have sunk into all your novels.

      Qidian set up this system in a shady way right from the start, but because the chapters unlocked on their own as new chapters came out most of us ignored it. Now they have moved things one step further and act like we won't notice.

      A frog will let himself get boiled alive if the water is heated up gradually.

        Just shocked as well. Im an SS stone buyer. i spend at least 1 max pckage per month. I dont mind unlocking chapters as well. I just started VMMORPG:Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian and was shocked that the unlocked chapters are only 100+ only. What the hell is this qidian? You got to be better than this

          pr0fess0rx I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but i think you are already spending above what your average person would expect to pay on a monthly basis for webnovels. I feel that for that much you should be able to get your fill on webnovels without issue. The fact that even you are having trouble is worrying.

            Garlic_Sauce you're just new. Everything has a way. By next week you'll probably be complaining with the lack of chapters rather than the lack of SS.

              I could understand if there was a monthly premium membership that unlocked all chapters. I would pay $15 to $30 a month for that. I’m not shelling out $100+ per novel when I normally real 15 to 20 different novels at a time daily. I will just have to give up reading novels here. If I paid the prices they want for those novels. I would have to pay $1500 to $2000 to read them. That’s insane!!! I guess I need to find novels on other sites instead.

              I started checking the novels, it seems that those that are in the top 100 are going premium and that is a shame. Also can you imagine telling someone that you pay over US$100 for this, they will laugh at you. Qidan should check out other sites in terms of cost - I looked at netflix annual fees - from a basic US$100 to premium US$150. Plus they retain a lot of subscriptions due to their service and cost. I think that is doable for the power reader as a yearly fee but the HUMONGOUS RIP OFF, is not acceptable. I also notice that for those that require premium there is indication of reduced comments.

              Qidan get your act together. I really do not want to leave this site but I am not willing to pay those astronomical fees for incomplete books/webnovels. I do not even spend that amount on books for the year on a regular basis. Give us good justification for those costs. Granted the reader has a choice to come to this site, but the reader also has a choice to leave and discourage other people from coming here as well due to this very unfriendly feature. Who will be the bigger loser then?

                All_Night Corprate is pushing for more revenue from the international sister company. It’s not up to the authors whether the premium releases happen or not.

                It is, CKtalon made a topic about it. The authors went to the webnovel staff and pressured them because they thought the premium system worked like in China, first hundred chapters free and then all locked. Then the webnovel stuff stopped unlocking the chapters daily and CKtalon made a topic, then it got deleted I believe.

                    if they follow the highway robbery like china's premium system i believe qidian will lost millions readers.No wonder they not unlocked premium chapter per day for free reader,they will vacuum your money,account bank perhaps mortgage own wife too for addicted in reading.

                    easy said ,qidian's is insane.They think eastern economic(communism)
                    will same as western economic(capitalism)?

                    same for me i bought several packages of SS cause i wanted to read a little faster but once my current set of ss are out i will be gone. cause im not planning of paying large amounts of money for each story

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